Abbott Endorses House Republican Who
Voted for Gun Limitation Measure in 2023

Capitol Inside
January 4, 2024

Governor Greg Abbott attacked State Rep. Justin Holland of Rockwall on Wednesday for supporting a bill last year that would have raised the legal age for purchasing semi-automatic rifles in the Lone Star State. Holland was one of two Texas House Republicans who voted in committee to advance the gun restriction measure to the lower chamber floor. Several hours later, Abbott endorsed the other for re-election in 2024.

Abbott accused Holland of growing "increasingly unresponsive to voters and the Republican Party" in a post on X. Holland "has belittled Republican voters, and disregarded Republican principles," Abbott said. "He voted against gun rights and school choice, but voted to put Democrats in leadership positions."

But the Republican governor didn't hold a vote for the gun bill against GOP State Rep. Sam Harless of Houston when he made a glowing pitch today for his campaign for a new term in the House. Abbott also ignored the Harless vote for the rule that continued the long-standing tradition of allowing House speakers to appoint committee chairs from the opposing party.

Harless - for the record - backed the school vouchers plan in which Abbott invested unprecedented political capital and never had a realistic chance to pass in the Legislature's lower chamber. The contrasting nature of Abbott's statements on Holland and Harless gave the impression that the state's top leader doesn't really care that much about the 2nd Amendment or Democrats on the House leadership team.

The governor added State Reps. Greg Bonnen of Friendswood, David Cook of Mansfield and Richard Hayes of Plano to the list of House Republicans who he's endorsed on Wednesday and Thursday. That pushed the count of incumbent House Republicans with Abbott's support as individual candidates to 36. Abbott already had endorsed all 63 GOP representatives who stuck with him on the failed education savings accounts proposal as a group.

But Abbott's push to field primary opposition for two dozen Republicans who spurned him on ESAs has been sluggish up to now - having rallied behind just seven challengers who taking aim in round one at incumbents who voted to strip vouchers from a larger school funding bill in special session in November. Abbott also promised to keep calling special sessions until the Legislature approved ESAs. The governor's staff said he wouldn't rest until he had a vouchers plan on his desk. But Abbott balked and allowed the final six weeks of 2023 to go by without a fifth special session to tackle vouchers again. That appears to be a passive admission of failure for the time being on Abbott's number one priority in nine years as the top leader in the second largest state.

The votes that Harless and Holland cast for and against ESAs respectively may have marked the only time they ended up on the opposite side of a major issue before the House in the past year. Abbott gave no explanation on why he would endorse a lawmaker who voted to advance a gun control measure while ripping a colleague for doing the same. Holland and Harless joined six Democrats in a vote for House Bill 2744 in the Select Community Safety Committee in May.

The measure's author - Democratic State Rep. Tracy King of Uvalde - filed it in response to an elementary school massacre in his hometown the year before at the hands of an 18-year-old with an assault rifle that he'd bought legally on his birthday. HB 2744 died in the Calendars Committee.

Abbott didn't care that Holland had received substantially higher scores than Harless on conservative scorecards. Forty-six House Republicans had lower scores than Holland on the Texans for Fiscal Responsibility scorecard for 2023. Harless only graded higher than 11 GOP colleagues on the TFR Fiscal Responsibility Index last year. Holland ranked among the 20 most conservative Republicans in the House in both 2021 and 2019.

Harless didn't actually need Abbott's endorsement for the primary election as an incumbent who's unopposed in round one this year. Harless will face Democrat Sarah Smith in the general election in 2024.

Holland in contrast is fighting to survive in the face of opposition from a pair of first-round rivals in Dennis London and Katrina Pierson in House District 33. But Abbott - oddly perhaps - declined to throw his muscle behind either challenger in HD 33 when he blasted Holland on Wednesday in the social media post that mostly parroted a critical press release that the Rockwall County GOP about the incumbent.

London received 26 percent of the vote in the GOP primary election in HD 33 in 2022 when Holland garnered 69 percent and a third contender had 5 percent. Pierson has been a fierce critic of the governor as an activist who's close to Donald Trump. But Abbott is helping Pierson nonetheless by attacking the incumbent she's trying to unseat.

While Abbott doesn't have a favorite yet in HD 33, he's all in on Harless in House District 126. "Sam Harless is a conservative champion who has fought for strong borders, lower property taxes, and education freedom in Austin,” Abbott said in an email plug. “He was a crucial ally as we worked to pass the largest property tax cut in Texas history and bolster Texas’ efforts to secure our southern border. As we fight to expand education freedom across Texas, I know I can count on Sam to help carry school choice across the finish line once and for all."

more to come ...